There were no differences in serum TNF-α and IL-6 levels at different times between surviving child patients and dead child patients in NEC group (P>0.05), but the levels of serum I-FABP in surviving child patients at 6 h and 24 h were significantly lower than those in dead child patients (P<0.05), and there was no difference at 72 h (P>0.05).
In the present study we used in situ hybridization (with human TNF riboprobes) to localize TNF transcripts in the intestinal tissues from normal biopsies and NEC patients.